Avatar: The Leaf Child
by Kanti
Summary: After a lifetime of service, Aang has passed and his successor has begun her quest to fulfill her destiny. She really should learn how to read and write somewhere along the way, though.


A moderately-crowded tavern played host to its usual collection of exhausted merchants, travelers, trade smiths and ne'er-do-wells on a cool fall evening. At the far back wall, a sign indicated the night's entertainment on the small stage at the west end of the tavern. However, the sign was unreadable, having been knocked over hours ago and tonight the tavern lacked anyone selfless enough to set it back upright.

It was now an hour after sunset, and the tavern was about to play host to a pair of visitors who were quite important, even though no one really knew it at the time. The first one to enter was a tall, thin old man with a pair of spectacles resting on his nose. He carried himself with the air of someone important, which he was, being the chief authority on Avatar history and lore at Ba Sing Sei university. He quietly and quickly scanned the room and found an empty table close to the northern wall, then turned and beckoned a young lady in.

The old man had drawn a few gazes (mostly from pickpockets) with his clean, expensive-looking clothing, but the young lady drew even more stares. Her height was perfectly average for an eighteen year-old girl, a little on the short side, even. Her skin was lightly tanned from spending plenty of time outdoors, but it was still smooth with youth.

But it was her hair and clothing that drew the most attention. Her hair was long, brown and messy, tied back on one side with ivory beads in a series of dreadlocks and held down with a headscarf that let her bangs hang over one side of her face. A sleeveless green robe hemmed with wool hung over one shoulder and was tied at her waist with a red sash. Aside from the beads, her only jewelry consisted of a pair of leaf-shaped earrings and a necklace of eelshark fangs. The costume gave her the air of some kind of traveling warrior priestess. The fact she was quite pretty was secondary to her outlandish outfit.

She scanned the tavern with dark, alert eyes and followed her escort to their table, keeping an eye on any suspicious characters, which meant basically everyone.

The hostess approached the odd pair with a look of curious disdain and a pipe hanging from the corner of her mouth.

"What'll it be?"

"Jasmine tea, hot," said the old man in a courteous, clipped tone. "Soup of the day for both of us."

"And for you, miss?"

The young lady quietly cleared her throat and raised her head to speak. The rest of the tavern would regret this in a moment.

"Ah'll have uh cup o' green tea, ple-ase!" Her voice scraped across the eardrums of everyone in the room like nails on a chalkboard as her strange dialect created patterns across their brains they had never experienced nor liked.

"Oh god, what happened?" cried one patron.

"I think my ears just exploded!"

"What was that?"

"I just saw death! And blinked!"

The old man pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head with a sigh.

"W...will that be all?" said the gray-haired hostess, who had bitten her pipe off.

"Yes," said the old man before the girl could speak. He sighed again as the hostess left and turned to his dinner guest.

"Mika?"

"Yes?"

"Did you do that on purpose or are my speech therapy lessons not working?"

"Well excuse me, Mister Fong! Ah only left the swam about a month ago! You said it yerself this takes years."

"You practiced that line for hours!"

"Yeah well..." she hesitated, searching for a comeback. "Is that any way to treat the Avatar?" She stuck her tongue out at him and picked up a menu.

"That's no excuse not to apply your lessons, young lady." He pointed at her menu with an open hand. "Why are you even bothering with that? We both know you can't read."

Mika ground her teeth and crushed the menu as her vision turned red with rage. "Don't remahnd me!"

Fong rested one elbow on the table and adjusted his glasses. "You can't take the swamp out of the girl, but I am going to try even if it kills me."

The rest of the patrons were recovering from Mika's assault on their sense of hearing, and were now keeping a respectful distance from her table. The hostess returned with their drinks and soup, then made a quick departure before Mika could destroy her hearing any further.

"Ya make it sound like you don't wanna be 'round me, Mister Fong."

Fong scowled. "It was the university's idea, remember? I just wanted to write my book about your life. I should have told them I didn't want to write from firsthand experience and I certainly didn't expect to have to teach the new Avatar how to read. How does one get to be your age without learning how to read, anyway?"

"How many times I gotta tell ya? Mah village don't have any books!" she punctuated her outburst by bringing her fist down on the table.

"Keep your voice down. It's rude to yell."

"Sorry," she said, moderating her tone. "Why didja bring me here anyway? Even daddy would say this place is a dump."

"Remember how I keep telling you to learn about some culture?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, theater is considered a major form of culture. It reflects the values of the society that created it, and the good ones can resonate with us hundreds of years after their first performance. Why, I remember a particular production of The Emperor's Concubine, a play written two hundred years ago that..." he trailed off as Mika's blank stare disrupted his train of thought.

She blinked a couple of times. "What?"

Fong rolled his eyes. "Just watch the play."

The tavern's host walked onstage a few minutes later and called the audience to attention. He wiped his hands on his stained apron and the lights seemed to glare off his bald head.

"Thank you all for coming! Tonight's entertainment will feature a series of monologues from a promising and beautiful young actress."

Someone let a whoop from the back of the room.

"Please enjoy the show, and do keep away from the stage."

He hurried offstage and was followed by a moment of silence while the patrons settled down. A young woman, holding a mask over her face and wearing a red kimono, shuffled onstage.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" She removed her mask, revealing an elegant, beautiful young woman with fair skin and black hair. "Ah! I see you now!" She bowed low and smiled nervously. "I hope you're all doing well tonight. Things...have been interesting around here lately."

Mika leaned over to Fong. "What's up with her?" she whispered.

"Just watch," he answered.

The actress, who identified herself as Yin, first played the part of a scatterbrained household servant speaking to guests. Mika felt rather unnerved by the Yin's performance, like he was watching something she shouldn't be. She made a series of bawdy jokes about nobles and their gossip to loosen up the audience, then made a few jokes at the owner's expense and also of the local governor. The act lasted a few minutes, and then was concluded when Yin replaced her mask and bowed. There was light applause, and then the real show started.

When she stood back up, she was tall and regal, her bright yellow eyes viewing the world from a position of prominence.

She moved to one side of the stage, which was only a few feet wide to begin with. She clasped her hands and took a deep breath. "Oh to be called the queen! Even once! Everyone knows the emperor favors me over her." Whereas her voice from before was shaky and shy, it was now full and clear as new glass.

Fong tapped Mika on the shoulder and she leaned closer.

"This is one of my favorites!"

The language Yin used was very elaborate and most of it was lost on Mika's humble upbringing. The gist of it (as explained by Fong) was that Yin played a concubine for an unnamed emperor, and she longed for acclaim beyond her position, and was driven enough to reach for it, despite knowing it could destroy her. Mika missed most of what was going on, but at one point Yin moved off the stage and started moving around the tables, making a meandering course toward Mika.

"The kingdom is at war, and all the men are concerned with the battlefield and the sword. Do I mean to incite war at the Emperor's palace? His castle? His stronghold? I confess, I am not as versed as some, but I am not a complete fool. I have always been told to mind my place. Is it so bad to just once say, 'I will be greater?'"

She approached Mika, who noticed the faintest of blushes on the actress' otherwise serene face.

"Maybe it is. Maybe the gods will judge me for usurping those divinely appointed. But it is also written, 'everyone is appointed for something.'" She gingerly took Mika's hand as though comforting a worried family member. Mika felt her body warming up with a full-on blush as this complete stranger charged into her personal space.

"I am the emperor's concubine. I know that much. I only ask this one thing; let history remember me for something more than that." She let go of Mika's hand and glided back to the stage. "Lo, the queen approaches. Best to be invisible, better to be elsewhere."

The tavern was quiet as she replaced her mask. Mika was stunned. She leaned on the table with her chin in her hands and her mind in a dreamlike state.

Yin continued her act with a few songs played on a shamisen, most of them upbeat and lively, but a couple were sad and beautiful.

"She's amazing," Mika whispered.

Fong nodded. "She is very talented, I'll give her that."

Mika nodded. "She's pretty, and talented, and mature, and smart," she sighed whistfully, drawing circles on the floor with her toe. "I wanna be just like her."

"You're beginning to sound like a small child," Fong joked.

She slapped the table. "I have to meet her!" Mika hissed, followed by the neighboring tables shushing her.

Yin concluded her act with an amusing story about a trip to the North Pole she once undertook which ended disastrously and very nearly humiliated the entire royal family of the Northern water tribe. The tavern applauded as she bowed out and gathered her stage props.

Mika jumped up as soon as the crowd's noise level returned to a steady murmur.

"Ah'll be right back!"

"Make it quick."

"Ah know, ah know. Later!" Mika bounced away from the table and headed toward the stage. Yin saw her coming and waved, hurrying off the stage toward Mika with an excited expression.

It was then that a pair of rough-looking men stood between them. Mika's heart sank.

"Hey, that was a nice show," said one of them, his voice slurred by too much alcohol.

"Thank you," Yin said with effortless grace and a short bow.

"Do you give private shows?" said the other man, also clearly drunk.

She smiled coyly. "I'm afraid I only play for large audiences."

"How about two large men?" they seemed to find this amusing and shared a guffaw. Yin laughed politely and tried to sidle past them.

"You know what I mean, you silly men. Now if you'll excuse me, the show is over and-"

One of them clamped a huge hand around her arm and Mika's body tensed up.

"Come on, just a few minutes."

Yin tried to pull free. Her delicate frame appeared even smaller in comparison to the brawny molesters. "Sir, please let go. I won't forgive you if you bruise my arm."

"I'll be gentle if you come along." The crowd was beginning to back away from the group and Mika could feel a fight brewing. There was plenty of water in the room. It wouldn't be too difficult to freeze these goons to the floor and make a clean getaway...

Another man entered the scene, trailing a faint cloud of dust.

"Excuse me miss, are these gentlemen bothering you?"

Mika looked at the source of the voice. A handsome, but travel-worn young man faced the troublemakers with his arms crossed. His clothes were dirty and well-worn, his long black hair tied back and a long sword hung from his hip.

"Not at all," said Yin. "They were just about to let me go about my business."

Without warning, the one closest to the stranger threw a right hook that Mika swore would have shattered a tree. The stranger lurched with the blow to his face and staggered, but smoothly regained his balance and came back around with a grin.

"That was a mistake," Yin warned.

The stranger cocked an eyebrow. "That's my line!"

"Haven't I always told you not to hesitate, Lee?"

The troublemaker threw another punch at Lee, who dodged the blow and drove his fist into the man's face with enough force to catapult him backwards and over the bar. The other man came at him and Lee flipped him over his shoulders and onto a table, and the entire tavern erupted into a free-for-all.

Mika and Yin ducked beneath a table as mugs shattered and bodies went flying.

"Hi! I'm Mika! I'm the Avatar!"

Yin nodded. "I'm Yin! I've always wanted to meet you."

"Really?"

"Yes. I heard you were from Foggy Swamp?"

"Yep!" she answered proudly. "It's nice once ya learn all the little tricks ta livin' there."

Yin raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to one side. "You really do have a strange accent."

"Ehhhh," Mika lowered her eyes and looked around. "How do we get outta here?"

"Follow me! I'm used to this sort of thing."

Mika and Yin crawled beneath legs and tables as the tavern boiled around them. Mika felt bits of pottery, tea and beer sting her face as mugs and plates smashed to the floor all around her. They found the host and hostess crouching behind their bar and sharing a pipe.

"That way," said the hostess. "Fights like this tend to avoid the doors."

"Thank you!" the girls chimed and crawled to the exit. Once outside they found Fong waiting for them and finishing his tea.

"Does this happen at all your shows?" he asked.

"Only the really good ones," Yin replied. "And you are?"

"Fong Lu. Professor of Avatar History and Lore at Ba Sing Sei University."

"How prestigious!" Yin gasped with practiced courtesy, followed by a bow.

"I am also trying to teach her how to read and write," he muttered off-hand, which Mika responded to with an annoyed slap on his arm.

"You can't read or write?" Yin asked with honest surprise.

"Like I said, ah grew up in Foggy Swamp. My village don't have books or nothin,' and we never needed 'em to know how to get by."

"It's a very remote fishing village," Fong added. "Took us three years to find it."

Yin looked back at the riot going on inside. "We'll have to find someplace more accommodating to conversation if we're to continue this."

"I agree," said Fong.

A familiar-sounding voice yelled something incoherent and the person attached to it crashed through a window, holding a large man in front of him to act as a shield. Lee kicked the unconscious man in the ribs and dusted himself off.

"Whew! It's getting violent in there. Hey Yin! Made a new friend?"

"Yes. Done fighting for today?"

Lee looked back at the tavern. "Nah, but it's not every day we're in the same town, so I'll let it go this time." He straightened out his clothes. "That monologue always sounds weird out of context."

"I know, but the crowds always seem to like it."

"You two know each other?" Mika asked.

"Since we were very young, Yin replied. "This lout likes to play bodyguard whenever we're in town together."

"That's not true. We just seem to attract trouble, is all. Can't have you getting your knuckles bruised, can we?"

Yin shook her head and rolled her eyes. "You still haven't changed at all."

"Nope!" Now that things were slightly calmer, Mika noticed Lee wasn't particularly tall, but he was strong and carried himself like he was eight feet tall. Whether that confidence was real or misplaced she had yet to see. "So who're they?"

Mika bowed. "I'm Mika, the Avatar. And this is my tutor, Fong Lu, from Ba Sing Sei University. Fong, this is-"

"Desert Rat Lee. I know who you are." Fong wore a sour expression and kept his arms crossed.

"You do?" she asked.

"He's a tomb raider."

"Treasure hunter," Lee corrected. "Hold that thought." He paused long enough to backhand a vagrant who'd staggered out of the tavern. He faced Mika and pointed at Fong. "And I'll have you know I've donated some very important artifacts to that university of his."

"Donated?" exclaimed the indignant teacher. "More like extorted! Those treasures were Earth Kingdom heirlooms! Beyond price!"

Lee snerked. "As much gold as you gave me for them, I wouldn't go that far."

Fong charged. "Why you!"

Mika held him back while maintaining a pleasant smile. "So are we gonna go somewhere else or not?"

Yin clapped and took Mika by the arm. They were the same height, but Yin had a smaller build, ladylike to the point of fragility, like a princess out of a fairy tale. Mika possessed a more athletic build from a lifetime heavy in physical activity. "Yes! Lets! I did say I wanted to meet the Avatar, didn't I?"

Mika felt her heart jump and took up a lively pace. "Come on! I think there's a Jade Dragon around here where we can have some peace and y'all can sit down."

Yin and Lee both stared at her. "Y'all?"


End file.
